WJLX-TV
WJLX-TV, virtual channel 60 (UHF digital channel 61), is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Gotham City, New Jersey. The station is owned by Weigel Broadcasting. On cable, WJLX-TV is available in standard definition on Comcast Xfinity and Altice Optimum channel 6 and on Verizon FiOs channel 60 and in high definition on Xfinity and Optimum channel 1006 and on FiOs channel 1060. Gallery Coming Soon! History As an independent station WJLX-TV signed on as an independent station on July 20, 1984. The station was founded by Nintendo, was originally branded as "Ocean 60", and under their stewardship, the station became very profitable, though for the following decade trailed established independents WKGC (channel 4, now a CW affiliate) and WFFG-TV (channel 45, now Fox affiliate WFXG) in the local ratings, especially since both stations featured higher-quality programming thanks in part to investments by their then-respective owners, United Artists Broadcasting and Taft Broadcasting. One major score during their Nintendo ownership was New Line Network (whose nearest station was in Philadelphia) allowing Channel 60 to cherry-pick the new New Line Toons program Salmonsplat (which was co-produced by Nintendo in association with then-sister station WCCX-TV in Columbus, Ohio; and would later inspire the Splatoon game series) as part of the station's Saturday morning lineup upon it's 1990 premiere, though it would later be moved to Sundays as a lead-out to UPN's children's programming lineups. Bidding of FOX Nintendo's first attempt to sell WJLX-TV (during a period where the company was selling off many of their non-video-gaming-related assets) came in August 1993, when Fox Television Stations announced that it would purchase channel 60 and make it Gotham City's new Fox station. The deal would have left existing Fox affiliate WFXG without an affiliation. WFXG's owner, Paramount Stations Group (a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures), strongly criticized Fox's plans to pull its affiliation, fueling existing speculation that Paramount was planning to join with Chris-Craft Industries to create a new network; when what eventually became the United Paramount Network (UPN) was announced that October as a joint venture of the two companies (with Paramount holding only a programming partnership until it purchased 50% of the network in 1996), WFXG was named as its Gotham City affiliate. As FCC approval did not come before the planned January 30, 1994 completion of the deal, Nintendo walked away from the sale a few weeks later, preserving WFXG's Fox affiliation. Later that year, Capital Cities/ABC, owners of then-ABC owned-and-operated station WGC-TV (channel 7) announced that they would be selling that station in order to receive funding to purchase ABC affiliates WXJT-TV in Klinkerton, Planet Mixel and WFBS in Flint, Michigan, along with then-NBC affiliate WOVI in Toledo, Ohio. New World Communications had recently partnered with Fox in most of the markets where the company owned stations, and emerged as a candidate to purchase WGC-TV. Fox also entered into the bidding for WGC-TV just in case New World's offer fell through. However, on August 31, 1994, Viacom (which had acquired Paramount several months earlier) announced that it would sell WFXG to Koopa Troop Communications (who would subsequently renew WFXG's Fox affiliation deal) and WGC-TV was instead sold to CBS, though in order to fulfill WGC-TV's existing ABC affiliation contract along with that with CBS for eventual ABC affiliate WGCN, WGC-TV did not officially become a CBS owned-and-operated station until 1996. Using the cash received from Koopa Troop Communications for channel 45, Viacom then bought WJLX-TV. As soon as the deal was announced, Viacom announced that channel 60 would join UPN. As a UPN station WJLX-TV became Gotham City's UPN station when the network launched on January 16, 1995. After UPN debuted, the station's image was changed to fit its new status as a network station. The on-air branding changed to "UPN Ocean 60", and finally "UPN 60", and the graphics got simpler. Viacom assumed control of WJLX-TV on August 25, 1995, the same day Koopa Troop Communications closed on its purchase of WFXG. Viacom bought CBS in 2000, creating a duopoly with WGC-TV. On October 29, 2001, Viacom traded WJLX-TV to the News Corporation's Fox Television Stations unit in exchange for WKBT in Toad Harbor, Mushroom Kingdom, this separated channel 60 from WGC-TV. In June 2005, as WFXG's ten-year Fox contract was nearing expiration, rumors began surfacing that the station would again attempt to take over the Fox affiliation as a result of it's ownership, but WFXG subsequently extended the contract to keep its affiliation with that network. MyNetworkTV era, sale to Weigel On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and the Warner Bros. Entertainment unit of Time Warner announced that they would sell The WB and UPN and merge some of their programming on a new network called The CW. Unenthused with being passed over for affiliations with The CW in several key markets outside of Gotham City in favor for stations owned by CBS Television Stations (sister company to both UPN and The CW) and Tribune Broadcasting (whose WB stations served as that network's core affiliate group through Tribune's partial ownership of The WB), Fox Television Stations' UPN affiliates immediately began pulling UPN branding and promotions from on-air use; WJLX-TV immediately dropped its "UPN 60" branding and revived their former "Ocean 60" branding. The CW announcement again, for the third time since 1993 and the second time within the past year, touched off speculation that Fox would pull its affiliation from WFXG and move it to WJLX-TV. On February 22, News Corporation announced that it would start up another new broadcast television network called MyNetworkTV. This new network, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and News Corporation's syndication division, Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give stations affiliated with UPN and The WB that were not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates another option besides becoming independent stations, as well as to compete against The CW. It was later announced that WKGC would become Gotham City's CW affiliate with WJLX-TV joining MyNetworkTV. On August 11, WJLX-TV adopted the standard MyNetworkTV logo and gradually rebranded itself as "My 60". It became a MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station when the network launched on September 5, while WKGC affiliated with The CW on September 18, 2006. On May 15, 2012, Fox announced that it would be putting WJLX-TV up for sale as part of a refocusing by MyNetworkTV on it's owned-and-operated stations in markets where they operate as duopolies with Fox owned-and-operated stations. On November 29, 2012, Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting announced it's intentions to purchase WJLX-TV. On May 6, 2013, the FCC granted its approval of WJLX-TV to Weigel, which was formally consummated on June 1. The sale left WGC-TV and NBC-owned WNKW as the only network-owned stations in the Gotham City market. On April 17, 2017, Weigel announced that WJLX-TV would be re-branded as "The LX" on July 17, 2017 to keep the station in line with some of Weigel's sister stations; the channel continues to air its current lineup of MyNetworkTV and syndicated programming. Digital television Analog-to-digital conversion WJLX-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 60, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 61, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 60. Category:New Jersey Category:Gotham City Category:MyNetworkTV affiliated stations Category:Weigel Broadcasting Category:Channel 60 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1984 Category:Former independent stations Category:Former Independent stations Category:Former UPN affiliates Category:Former UPN Affiliates Category:Former owned-and-operated stations